Does the English Queen Know What Real Life is About? (2004)

“You don’t know real life!”- is a classical Russian phrase, which parents tell their children, the older generation to the younger generation and teachers to everybody. To know life, means, being able to exist and to survive in extreme situations. On a difficult day Russians change gear from a “European” active state into an Asian contemplative state of mind. (V. Erofeev – Encyclopedia of the Russian Soul). Like in most of Olga Pona’s pieces, “Does the English Queen” deals with the reality of a harsh Russian life: people living together in spaces that are too small, cities that vibrate a constant sense of danger, minimal financial circumstances, and the only way to survive is to know that by the end one can count on the people who are close to you. And the English Queen? For Russians she probably represents a dream, which cannot be realized during this life. Maybe in their next life. Maybe never.